Australian man rescued following hiking fall in Kynsna

At midday yesterday the NSRI Knysna volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from a hiking tour group who reported that a man had fallen, while walking on a hiking trail, and had sustained injuries.

The hike was on the Featherbed Trail, on the sea side of the Western Knysna Head.

The NSRI Knysna launched their sea rescue craft JT Rescuer and Spirit of KYC and responded.

“On arrival on-scene our NSRI rescuers hiked to the position of the injured hiker, at Needles, and he was found to have sustained head injuries and lacerations to both of his knees sustained when he reportedly fell while walking with a tour group on the Featherbed Trail”, said Graeme Harding the NSRI Knysna station commander.

“The patient was secured into a stokes basket stretcher and our NSRI volunteers carried him from Needles, on the mountain, past the Western Knysna Head, to Coffin Bay, approximately just under a kilometer, where he was loaded into an ER24 ambulance and transported to hospital in a stable condition”.

Smith has been treated in hospital where he will remain overnight for observation and he remains in a stable condition.

A tour guide accompanied the patient to hospital and the tour guide is assisting with logistics. It appears that the patient may have stumbled causing him to fall while hiking.